When a cluster of residents’ associations lodged concerns and reservations recently about proposals for the massive Purley old people’s housing development – with a public swimming pool attached – there was just one area which opted out of this lobby of Tory Mayor Jason Perry and the council: Purley and Woodcote Residents’ Association.
Bus stopped: Purley police have appealed to the public to fund their own vehicle. A double-decker is not essential
There’s a reason for that: four of the current committee of the supposedly “non-political” PWRA are past, present or wannabe Conservative councillors.
Councillor Samir Dwesar has been the association’s chair.
Dwesar is on Perry’s payroll at the Town Hall, getting extra allowances paid as the deputy cabinet member for children and young people, while he is also a councillor for Purley and Woodcote. But neither he, nor members of the residents’ association that he chairs, appear ever to have considered that there might be any kind of conflict of interest.
Helping out by being minutes secretary is Simon Brew. Brew, too, is a councillor for Purley and Woodcote ward. But neither he, nor members of the residents’ association for that same area, have ever considered that there might be any kind of conflict of interest in their councillor sitting on the RA’s committee.
Fooled: in 2021, Cllr Simon Brew claimed the Purley Pool could be re-opened with just £3m spend
Brew was one of the Conservative councillors who, in late 2021, visited Purley Pool and shot a video in which they proclaimed that Mayor Perry would re-open the public facility after simply, and economically, spending less than £3million on upgrades and repairs – a claim which was later exposed to be very wide of the mark.
Or what people who are not involved in the murky world of local politics would call a lie.
But with Dwesar and Brew on board the Purley and Woodcote RA’s committee, it’s probably not a surprise that PWRA has been silent on the many and obvious flaws in private developer Polaska’s plans for 220 retirement homes on the Purley Leisure Centre site, with no affordable homes, much-reduced car parking, and offering a swimming pool to try to swerve their planning obligations.
Despite the overwhelming opposition from other residents’ associations, Brew has made a referral in favour of the Polaska scheme, although it is not known whether he has done so in a personal capacity, as an elected councillor for Purley and Woodcote, or as a committee member of PWRA.
Inside Croydon understands that Dwesar decided to stand down as PWRA’s chair at its annual meeting, which was due to be held last month. Among those putting themselves forward as a replacement was James Hillam, who coincidentally was a Conservative Party candidate for the 2022 local elections. Cushty.
Conflicted: Samir Dwesir, councillor while chairing local RA
Tories Dwesar, Brew and Hillam continue to do their bit for the community, meanwhile…
PWRA’s area includes a very desirable model village area which was once home to Bernard Ingham, Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary, Status Quo rock star Francis Rossi and former Crystal Palace footballer Wilf Zaha.
Yet even they have had issues with policing – or the lack of it – and proper funding levels for the Met.
Private Eye’s Rotten Boroughs page reports this week that in May, Brew and the PWRA received a special request.
They had been asked by the local plod to conduct a whip-round of their plush neighbours in order to buy a police car for the cash-strapped Met, so that officers would no longer have to take a bus to New Addington to sign on for duty.
“Travelling on buses was very time consuming and a waste of expensive resources,” the residents’ association noted.
What the Conservative-dominated residents’ association failed to say is that police in the south of the borough have been without their own vehicle for about seven years, since one of the many rounds of cuts to police spending imposed under the austerity measures of the Conservative governments, and that the last Tory policing minister had failed to take any action on this embarrassing situation.
Which given that that Conservative policing minister was none other than Chris Philp, whose own parliamentary constituency covers Purley and Woodcote, sums up the mess caused by 14 years of Tory rule.
It’s not just been police in Purley who have been taken for a (bus) ride.
Read more: Residents’ groups reject Purley ‘pool’ plan backed by Perry
Read more: Tories warn residents: don’t dare complain about Purley pool
Read more: Residents backlash over Perry’s 200-flat scheme at Purley pool
Read more: Council backs Purley Pool tax dodge by off-shore company
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I think you will find that Bernard Ingham lived in Manor Way, not on the Webb Estate
Monahan Avenue, according to his records on Companies House.
Yes: Monahan Ave.
Either way, Manor nor Monahan have ever been Webb.
Why do we have to keep correcting readers’ confusion over Monaghan Avenue versus the Webb Estate? I’d always found IC’s followers to be well-informed and highly inteligent. But I’m starting to wonder …
Yes, my mistake- Monahan Avenue. I remember him from my Purley days
What is the point of having a Residents’ Association when all it does is act as another branch of the local Conservative Party? Tories in their relationship with Farage’s Reform appear on stage together, attend meetings together and virtually trumpet the same policies together. A conflict of interest appears to be part of the DNA of a Tory. Can’t even they see that being a party within a party within a party is not going to deliver the electoral success they feel so entitled to anymore.
Like a lot of local groups these days, the Purley and Woodcote Residents’ Association has really struggled to find people to fill officer roles.
Our councillors were among the few people willing to put themselves up and believe me, the councillors who took up these roles, and the rest of the Committee agonised long and hard about the potential conflict of interest. In the end, we decided that it was better to have the officers posts filled by them than to have no association at all. I voted in favour of the appointment, and I’m a lifelong Labour voter.
If you don’t like it, and you live in the PWRA area, why don’t you come along to our next Committee meeting at Christ Church at 7pm on Tuesday 17 September and offer your services?
CL, PWRA Secretary
There is a precedent in Croydon for providing swimming pools in residential developments….I am told that there is a swimming pool in one of the blocks of the Steep Hill development, one of the later bits of the Park Hill estate, off Stanhope Road, on the site of a long-disused quarry !
There is a precedent for building swimming pools for people to use. There’s no precedent, or excuse, for using the provision of a pool to waive legal responsibilities to provide affordable housing – in this case around 70 flats, with an estimated value of £21m
If you believe that an outdoor heated swimming pool which is not much bigger than a few plastic paddling pools stuck together would fulfill the criteria of a public service swimming facility for a population with the size of Purley. Then again perhaps we could open the swimming pool in Mayor Perry’s back garden to serve the public too.
It’s still there. However this is a private pool shared between 4 blocks of approximately 150 flats with plenty of parking. Its upkeep is paid by a service charge to those flats which is a bit steep!
The maintenance costs of the pool at Pullman Court in Streatham meant it stayed empty and unused for many years
Old Palace Prep, at Melville Avenue, previously known for over a Century as Croham Hurst School has an outdoor pool.
As it is now closing or probably already has, they could bring that pool into the Public domain before they no doubt demolish the school…….and replace with a hideous assortment of MORE retirement properties to get their greedy mits on zillions of £💰💰💰💵💵💸in service charges.